AICF claims pests destroyed information in response to question below RTI Act

The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has claimed that information pertaining to a Right to Information (RTI) Act question by a participant have been destroyed by pests at its headquarters right here, resulting in a rebuke from the Central Information Commission.

Responding to a question below the RTI Act searching for info on numerous points by FIDE Master (FM) Gurpreet Pal Singh, the AICF claimed the information had been destroyed by pests.

“Initially, they denied information stating that the case is pending in Madras High Court. Then they said records have been destroyed by pests and finally they denied it under section 8 (1)(d), (e), (j) of the act,” Singh instructed PTI.

“The commission did not agree with this and ordered them to provide information and admonished them for trying to misguide the commission and changing their stand,” he added.

He additional stated that “the AICF had earlier told the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that its records were destroyed by the floods in Chennai in 2015”.

At a listening to on the CIC workplace, the AICF’s Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) had submitted that the requisite info pertains to the Chennai workplace and apprised the bench that the related information have been destroyed/broken by pests.

“Upon being queried by the Commission whether he has any proof for the same, he could not provide a cogent reply,” the CIC order notes.
Meanwhile, the CIC ordered AICF to offer the main points sought by Singh.

Earlier in 2019, Singh had sought info from AICF with regard to year-wise expenditure incurred by AICF in a case filed by them towards the CCI’s order earlier than the Madras High Court, other than numerous different points.